Understanding the Cross

If we were to have a discussion about the cross of Christ I wonder how that discussion would go? Would we talk of anything more that the two pieces of wood the Christ was stretched out upon, nail by his hands and feet and died?

Most think Christ was a meek holy man. He was not God. He did not have anything to do with politics. That He came only to die on the cross to provide the redemption for humanity in order to accept Him and receive everlasting life.

Christ Came to Teach

We have already discussed in a previous post that Christ came in flesh to teach humanity how to open the heat-brain to the mind-brain in order to allow the heart-brain (spirit) to control the human body's actions and thoughts. This was the state of man before sin. Before sin man was spiritual being in a physical body. After sin man became a physical being which housed a spiritual being and had to figure out how to allow the mind-brain to reconnect to the heart-brain. Christ came in the flesh to teach humanity how to return to the state of a spiritual being living in a physical body.

We are told that Christ taught in parables. In the New Testament, 55 parables are included in Luke, Mark and Matthew. Jesus used the parables extensively in his three-year teaching ministry. ... When asked by the disciples why he used parables, Jesus said that he would fulfill the words of the prophet and reveal the mysteries from the foundation of the world. Matthew 13:11-14 "11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:"

Wow! We have discussed the seven elements of the Keys of the Kingdom. What do we see in Matthew 13. Christ is telling His disciples how they have been given the mysteries of the kingdom and the spiritual senses that allow them to coordinate the understanding of them. Christ knew that only those that were of spiritual being of God would be able to know the mysteries and those of the serpent bloodline would not.

Christ Came for Confronting Government

Now Christ was not only a meek holy man but He was a warrior of God - He was God. John 2:13-16 "13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise."

Politics are at the center of the story of Jesus. His historical life ended with a political execution. Crucifixion was used by Rome for those who systematically rejected imperial authority, including chronically defiant slaves and subversives who were attracting a following. In the world of Jesus, a cross was always a Roman cross.

So also the heart of his message was political: it was about the coming of “the kingdom of God.” These are the first words of Jesus in Mark, the earliest Gospel, an advance summary of what the Gospel and the story of Jesus are about (Mark 1:14-15). Of course, Jesus’ message was also religious: he was passionate about God and what God was like. That passion led him, in his teaching and actions, to proclaim the kingdom of God.

In his world, “kingdom” language was political. Jesus’ hearers knew about other kingdoms—the kingdom of Herod and the kingdom of Rome (as Rome referred to itself in eastern parts of the empire). The kingdom of God had to be something different from those kingdoms. The kingdom of God is for the earth. The Lord’s Prayer speaks of God’s kingdom coming on earth, even as it already exists in heaven. It is about the transformation of this world—what life would be like on earth if God were ruler and the lords of the domination systems were not.

If Jesus had wanted to avoid the political meaning of kingdom language, he could have spoken of the “family” of God, or the “community” of God, or the “people” of God. But he didn’t: he spoke of the kingdom of God.

It would be a world of economic justice in which everybody had the material basics of existence. And it would be a world of peace and nonviolence. Together, economic justice and peace are “the dream of God”— God’s passion for a transformed world. Jesus’ passion for the kingdom of God created conflict with the authorities. His public activity began after the arrest of his mentor, John the Baptizer, by the Rome-appointed ruler of Galilee (Mark 1:14). Conflict dominates his story throughout the Gospels and climaxes in the last week of Jesus’ life with his challenge to the authorities in Jerusalem and his crucifixion.

Jesus also used political means, most dramatically in two public political demonstrations. First, his preplanned entry into Jerusalem on a donkey symbolized a kingdom of peace in which the weapons of war would be banished. Second, he publicly indicted the temple as “a den of robbers” because it had become the center of collaboration with Roman imperial rule and taxation (Matt 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46).

Jesus’ passion for the kingdom of God led to his passion in the narrower sense of the word: his arrest, suffering, and death. This is the political meaning of Good Friday. Easter also has a political meaning: it meant that God said yes to Jesus’ passion for a transformed world and no to the powers of domination that killed him. Of course, Good Friday and Easter have more than a political meaning—but not less.

Understanding the Cross

All of these focuses culminated in the cross. So what is the cross and what should our understanding of the cross be?

We will start this part of the discussion with Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" Christ is telling us to ask and it shall be given. Have you ever wondered just what or whom "it" is? Bet your sitting there reading this and asking yourself what this passage in Matthew have to do with the cross. Everything is connected.

Let us go off course a minute just to show you how everything is connected. In the physical, some call the natural, when you mothers carried your babies to birth your carried them for nine months. In the womb the babies immediately upon egg fertilization rested in the position where the head was on top and the body and feet underneath in what we call the fetal position. This position when you look at it on a sonogram is the number 6. At time of birth the baby turns placing the head down and the body and feet above in what is called the birthing position. If you were to see this on a sonogram it would be in the shape of the number 9. We will take a look at scripture, not all but some, that show you just how this process is connected to them.

Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." We are told of the birth of Christ.

Matthew 6:9 "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." Christ teaches us how to pray. In the verses the Lords pray contains 66 words. Guess what there are 66 books of the bible. Do you not think Christ knew that in 523AD Constantine would limit the translated cannon to 66 English books? No coincidences.

Everything is connected. So let us proceed.

What or whom is "it"?

The first letter of the first verse in the first chapter in the first book of the Old Testament is the letter "I". Christ told us in Matthew 6:22 "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." The letter "I" is spiritual eye of our spiritual being - the heart-brain. The bible is a code book of the algorithm of God's thinking which He has put inside of us in our heart-brain. Hebrews 10:16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;"

The first letter of the first verse in the first chapter in the first book of the New Testament is the letter "T". Christ told us that Matthew 4:4 "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word [every letter] that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." So the word "it" is scripture.

Let us continue.

I think this may blow your mind. In Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

What did Christ carry to Mt. Calvary? It was His cross and it was carried on His shoulder. So the cross of Christ He carried was His government. The government of Christ is not a board of apostles, bishops, elders, pastors, or deacons. The government of Christ is the cross!

When we look at the cross it has five points. It has a top and bottom point on the vertical timber. It has a left and right point on the horizontal timber. And it has a point where the two timbers meet and connected. Those are the five points. We find in Ephesians 4:11 what each of these points represent.

Ephesians 4:11 "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;" These are the offices of Christ government. There are five and these five represent the five points of the cross and this group represents Christ cross.

1 Peter 2:21 "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."

Luke 9::23 "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

Christ is telling us to take up our cross, our government, and follow Him. The government that God has chosen His children to have DOMINION over. He told the ecclesia that they are to hold accountable the government. The church, the bride of Christ, is not the brick and mortar of a building but the believers in Christ. We are to band together in Christ and hold our government accountable because, just like Christ, our cross is those who govern us, our government. GOD IS GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!